Yes, another year has gone by. And another year is ahead of us. We’re starting all over again with the birthday calendar, as we watch the seasons turn and in about 45 weeks we’ll start getting ready for Christmas again. And then we’ll start getting excited again for the new year. Are you looking forward???
Motivational speakers pull out all the best cliché’s in January – everybody must be positive and get into the mode to be the best they can be, be the change they want to see, set goals to make more money, have more fun, achieve more success and do more good deeds… all to the glory of self? (just asking). Needing some motivation is not necessarily bad. But is this what life is all about, year in and year out? Is this really what we need? Does it just make us feel better or is there any truth in it? Does it produce results, and what sort of results should we be chasing? Surely some people are more excited this year because maybe they are getting married or having a baby, or finishing their studies, or planning an exciting trip. I’m just wondering if encouraging one another to be hopeful/excited/motivated just for the sake of being hopeful/excited/motivated is helpful at all. Is it even Biblical?
Often in the New Testament the people are told to encourage one another. So is that like saying, ‘Wow, you really are good at this. You should take it to the next level!’, or maybe ‘Just be positive, even if your life is a mess - its just an illusion, just think happy thoughts!’ or ‘You can do this! Remember, you are in control of your own destiny!’. I’m not denying that this style of motivation makes you feel good. And it always feels good to feel good. My question is still: Is this what we need? Is it helpful at all?
2 Tim 3:12 says ‘Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. But evil people and imposters will flourish. They will deceive others and will themselves be deceived.’
2 Tim 4:2 says ‘Preach the Word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favourable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching.’
Rom 15:4 says ‘For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.’
Colossians 2:2-3 says ‘I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself. In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.’
I’m gathering the
following points from these verses:
1. It seems like as Christians we’ll need encouragement because persecution is inevitable.
Persecution is not when your boss doesn’t like you. Its when you stand out like a sore thumb because you stick to your Biblical convictions. I think it could also be when you are asked to choose between e.g. more money/a relationship or obeying God and you choose obedience. Its when people oppose you, hate you, reject you or ridicule you because you choose obedience to God before conforming to culture and the norm. (Consider some earlier Christians* who left their families behind and got burnt on the stake because they refused to deny the truth of Jesus – what a source of true encouragement!)
2. Endurance and encouragement seems to go together. So the encouragement is not so much to achieve your personal goals, but to endure in the faith.
If Jesus died to make our lives easier, a Christian should not need to suffer any difficulties, unless He didn’t do a complete work. We need not be encouraged to inherit earthly blessings, but to endure earthly suffering for the purpose of eternal blessings (in Jesus). This does not include self-inflicted suffering. If your life is a mess due to your own decisions and sin, seek God, do what he says, ask for wisdom rather than doing what you want and then praying afterwards. His instructions are for our own good.
3. It seems like we can find encouragement in God’s Word, but not without the necessary correction and rebuking. (Maybe the Bible is not there to make us feel good, but to train us for Godly living, requiring change – ouch!)
Somehow people think everything that’s positive must be God. No, God’s Word is truth and the truth often hurts. A child left to itself will soon grow out of hand and cause shame to his parents. Likewise, as God’s children, we need correction, training, rebuking as only a loving Father can give. Pride (and maybe laziness?) often keeps us from submitting ourselves to God’s Word in this way, and we end up following our own minds, causing problems and shame, and ultimately eternal separation from God.
4. All wisdom and knowledge are found in Christ.
I know this sounds arrogant to some. I know there are a lot of very clever people out there. But how many clever people can explain how life originated apart from God? The guy I sat next to on the plane on Sunday ended up provoking me to bombard him with questions he couldn’t answer. As a chemical engineer, he could explain sustainable energy and the exhaustion of the planet to me in great detail. I told him that I believe that God is in control of it all and that a judgement day is coming despite our efforts to save the earth. As a self confessing Christian, who is spiritual but doubts the accuracy of Scripture, thinks that Jesus was a good teacher and doesn’t think its relevant to know how life originated, his world view soon ran into all sorts of walls when confronted with what the Bible reveals as the truth. He couldn’t believe that I could be so sure. Postmodernism makes confident statements sound like swearing. But how can anybody believe anything if they’re not sure? If I wasn’t sure I’d rather believe nothing!!! A belief is either true or false, it can’t merely be an opinion.
Using the Bible as starting point (with God the creator) and science to explain and confirm what is already there, you can effortlessly complete a logical ‘worldview circle’. Without this knowledge, even the best scientists have big gaps in either their theories, or logic, or both.
5. Our encouragement is in Christ, who fulfilled God’s perfect plan and in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge can be found.
Those who recognise that their suffering is never as great or as serious as their sin, finds joy in knowing that a completely innocent Man (who gave up his throne to become a human servant) took their punishment, to satisfy God’s wrath and pay our ransom so that we can look forward to eternity with God. Eternal separation from God is nothing close to what we could possibly be suffering. Not that suffering equals salvation. But suffering for the sake of Christ is a sign of salvation, because if He doesn’t mean anything to you, you won’t suffer a papercut for Him.
Being encouraged in anything else but in Jesus
is to set yourself up for disappointment. No boss, no job, no spouse, no child,
no health, no amount of money or success of fame or fun can offer a true,
lasting form of encouragement and hope for your new year. It might be the 2nd
week of January already but if you haven’t found your joy and hope in Jesus yet,
its not too late. Start with Rom 3
and John 3. The good news is, whether you have something to look forward to in
2013 or not, lasting, meaningful, true hope is available through faith in Jesus
Christ!
*Feel free to read
up on people like Ignatius, Polycarp, Cyprian of Carthage, John Huss, Anne Askew, John Lascelles, John Hooper to name a few who were brutally burned or
murdered because they refused to deny Christ as Lord. It seems to me like they were quite sure of their convictions! I think its fair to say they were dead sure!
